Pediatric Cardiology (Heart Center)

The Heart Center at Lurie Children’s provides the highest quality care for patients with the most complex and serious heart conditions. As the region’s largest children’s heart center, we care for more patients with cardiac conditions than any other hospital in Illinois. We use the most comprehensive heart evaluations and treatments to deliver high quality care from admission, to discharge, to follow-up. We provide cardiac care to pregnant mothers, infants, children and young adults, and our services range from cardiac disease prevention to heart transplantation.

Our experts have a wide range of experience, treating thousands of patients with heart complications annually.

Each year, our cardiologists see more than 10,000 pediatric patients in outpatient diagnostic visits and more than 300 inpatients.

Our interventional cardiologists perform more than 550 cardiac catheterization procedures, including implanting a pulmonary valve, which is a less invasive procedure than surgical valve replacement.

On average, our heart surgeons perform 450 heart surgeries each year, with one of the best survival rates for congenital heart surgery among the nation’s 40 largest and most advanced children’s hospitals — even for heart transplants.

Programs

Our Heart Center offers many specialized programs, from fetal cardiology to adult congenital heart disease. We are nationally and internationally renowned for the diagnosis and treatment of irregular heart rhythms (arrhythmia) and for helping pioneer the treatment of pediatric congenital heart disease through procedures like the Fontan conversion.

The Heart Center is also home to the Regenstein Cardiac Care Unit, which was built to ensure the continuity of care from admit to discharge, and is staffed by a team of specialists that meet the unique needs of its patients.

Volumes & Outcomes

We have performed more pediatric heart transplants since 1988 than any other healthcare provider in Illinois. Our first-year survival rate for heart transplant patients, more than 95%, far exceeds the national average of 87%, and our long-term survival rates are also exceptional. The Society of Thoracic Surgeons rated Lurie Children’s as a 3-Star hospital, the highest rating level awarded, in their Fall 2017 Harvest Report of the STS Congenital Cardiac Surgery Database. Learn more.

Approach

Our goal is to provide your child and family with the highest quality heart care. Our experienced, multidisciplinary teams of pediatric specialists make it easier for patients to see every specialist they may need under one roof and often in the same visit.

Research

Our physician-scientists are pioneering new cures, preventions and treatments for complex cardiac conditions through clinical and translational research. The Center for Cardiovascular Innovation focuses on interventions to improve outcomes and quality of life for children with high-risk complex heart disease.

Our scientific discovery efforts are supported by the Heart Center Research Core, a multi-disciplinary team to support significant and innovative clinical, translational and basic research.

Philanthropy

Your support is vital in helping us continue to make a difference in the lives of patients and families. Lurie Children’s relies on philanthropic funding to enhance its programs, services and research for children. To learn more, please e-mail Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago Foundation at foundation@luriechildrens.org or call 312.227.7500 or make a gift today.​​

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Sudden
cardiac arrest in children is a devastating occurrence. When the cause
of death stems from inherited diseases of the heart’s electrical system
or the heart muscle, prompt diagnosis of other family members could be
lifesaving, allowing clinicians to intervene before a parent or a
sibling suffers cardiac arrest.

But because standard autopsies do not always
reveal inherited cardiac anomalies, it can be difficult to determine
whether the culprit was a hereditary heart disease or something else.

To help improve the likelihood of detecting cardiac anomalies passed down in families, Gregory Webster, MD, MPH, a cardiologist at Lurie Children's has teamed up with colleagues from Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine
to trace the footprints of genetic heart disease in young people who
died suddenly and whose cause of death has not been determined through
traditional autopsy.

- See more at:
https://www.luriechildrens.org/en-us/news-events/Pages/molecular-detectives-track-genetic-footprints-heart-disease_326.aspx#sthash.blMaDB1g.dpuf

First Pediatric Hospital to Implant 50cc Artificial Heart

Jaheim was born with hypoplastic left heart syndrome, and received his first heart transplant in 2012 when he was 7 years old. He began to reject this heart in October 2016. To save his life, Lurie Children’s cardiac surgeons removed his transplanted heart and implanted the 50cc SynCardia Total Artificial Heart. The surgery took 14 hours and a team of specialists, including cardiovascular surgeons, nurses, a perfusionist, and anesthesiologists.

​Transitioning to Home Care

Almost Home Kids (AHK), now part of the Lurie Children’s family, cares for children with complicated health needs by providing family training, respite care and short-term transitional care in a home-like setting. AHK is staffed with medical professionals and volunteers to make sure every child and their families are prepared for the return home. The Division of Cardiology works closely with Almost Home Kids to make the care transition process as easy as possible.